Kill AppleTV

[davidostler]

My son is staying up very late at night to watch appleTV. I once thought it was disabled after 12pm because I shutdown the internet via our router. Turns out this doesn't prevent viewing of local content. Is there way of preventing local traffic to the appleTV via home sharing?

In previous os's I wrote a python script that was run as a daemon, it ran the command "killall TV" @ 12pm to be sure home sharing was shutdown. In Big Sur it seems home sharing doesn't rely on the TV app running so killing the TV app doesn't stop home sharing. I have found that I can kill "mediasharingd" but in order to start it back up again I have to log out of home sharing and back in which is a pain to do.

Can anyone think of an automated way to disable all content on appleTV after hours via scripting or otherwise?

Thanks!

 

[Juicy Box]

Do you mean 12am?

 

[Lihp8270]

What device is your son using to watch it?

Where is the “local” content stored?

 

[One2Grift]

You have an AppleTV box and you’ve downloaded content locally to it that your son is watching at a time he shouldn’t?

Or you have an AppleTV+ Subscription and your son has the ATV+ app installed, he is downloading content, and he’s watching it at a time he shouldn’t?

 

[Mr.Blacky]

1. Unplug Apple TV
2. Take Apple TV with you
3. Plug it back in the next day

 

[x-evil-x]

smart switch inside a closed box with a lock on it. Turn off everything at certain time. Thats if they will try messing with the smart outlet of course I don't know your kids.

 

[davidostler]

Do you mean 12am?

Yep, I meant 12am

 

[davidostler]

What device is your son using to watch it?

Where is the “local” content stored?

He is viewing content on Apple TV streamed from a Mac using home sharing.

 

[davidostler]

You have an AppleTV box and you’ve downloaded content locally to it that your son is watching at a time he shouldn’t?

Or you have an AppleTV+ Subscription and your son has the ATV+ app installed, he is downloading content, and he’s watching it at a time he shouldn’t?

My son will sneak out of bed to watch content in very late hours. I shut off the internet so he can only watch local content.

 

[Lihp8270]

He is viewing content on Apple TV streamed from a Mac using home sharing.

Can you just turn off the mac then?

Some routers can also block all traffic to specific devices based on time so maybe look into that too

 

[davidostler]

1. Unplug Apple TV
2. Take Apple TV with you
3. Plug it back in the next day

That definitely works and I have done that at times. I’m trying to automate the process so I don’t have to remember to grab the Apple TV every night.

 

[davidostler]

smart switch inside a closed box with a lock on it. Turn off everything at certain time. Thats if they will try messing with the smart outlet of course I don't know your kids.

Yeah, that could work. Thanks for the idea. Perhaps a smart outlet would do the trick. I would just have to make sure that the extension cords are hidden well enough that he can’t find them and get power from another outlet.

 

[seezar]

Since the upcoming version of Mac OS brings the shortcut functionality from iOS, I wonder if it would be possible to automate the Mac to disable home sharing at certain times.

 

[davidostler]

Since the upcoming version of Mac OS brings the shortcut functionality from iOS, I wonder if it would be possible to automate the Mac to disable home sharing at certain times.

Possibly, though when you disable and enable home sharing it requires you to authenticate with your password, if password authentication works then shortcuts may help. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[One2Grift]

My son will sneak out of bed to watch content in very late hours. I shut off the internet so he can only watch local content.

1. You turn off the Internet to the AppleTV box after a specific time disabling streaming from cloud providers
2. But the AppleTV box has content downloaded locally

Definite Option: hide the Siri remote.
Possible option: browse to the steaming app services you use, check if they allow disabling downloading content.
Possible option: require login every time to use the ATV box (I don't know if that's possible)
Not an option I'm aware of: custom script that shuts off the ATV box access between a time range

 

[x-evil-x]

On my amplifi I can schedule devices for internet access so you could do this with a good router.
just setup the device and timer on it.

 

[techwarrior]

He is viewing content on Apple TV streamed from a Mac using home sharing.

You can use Battery (MacBooks) or Energy Saver (desktops) settings on the Mac to sleep or shutdown at a certain time every day.

 

[davidostler]

On my amplifi I can schedule devices for internet access so you could do this with a good router.
just setup the device and timer on it.

My Linksys Velop router also lets me disable internet on my AppleTV, but it doesn't stop traffic on my local network which is why content can still be streamed from any computer to the Apple TV.

 

[Longkeg]

It seems you’re searching for a tech solution to what is essentially a behavioral issue. That’s not to say you won’t find what you’re looking for here but for me it begs the question: What’s going on with this young man that he’s repeatedly violating house rules? Are there consequences for his actions? If not, why not? Programming computers is easy. Kids… not so much.

 

[davidostler]

You can use Battery (MacBooks) or Energy Saver (desktops) settings on the Mac to sleep or shutdown at a certain time every day.

I have tried this and found that it didn't work for me, the AppleTV could still see my library. On your suggestion I tried it again and found that if I also disable "Wake for network access" and "Enable Power Nap" it works! My computer disappears from the list of available sources on the AppleTV. This seems like a reasonable solution for most cases, the only exception being when I'm doing overnight rendering on my computer and it can't sleep. That is not very often though. Thanks for the suggestion, I think that this will work nicely.

 

[ugahairydawgs]

It seems you’re searching for a tech solution to what is essentially a behavioral issue. That’s not to say you won’t find what you’re looking for here but for me it begs the question: What’s going on with this young man that he’s repeatedly violating house rules? Are there consequences for his actions? If not, why not? Programming computers is easy. Kids… not so much.

Exactly this. Outsmarting junior is the short term fix.

 

[davidostler]

It seems you’re searching for a tech solution to what is essentially a behavioral issue. That’s not to say you won’t find what you’re looking for here but for me it begs the question: What’s going on with this young man that he’s repeatedly violating house rules? Are there consequences for his actions? If not, why not? Programming computers is easy. Kids… not so much.

I have caught him a couple of times and he does have consequences for his actions. The problem is I don't know how many times he's done this and hasn't been caught. I suspect quite a few, I'm a heavy sleeper. I'd like to remove the temptation so that it's not an issue.

 

[davidostler]

Exactly this. Outsmarting junior is the short term fix.

I agree. This isn't going to solve any behavioral issue, that is the long road I'm traveling.

 

[JasonHB]

How about you just remove his Apple TV and don’t give it him back until he can do what he’s told.

I’d take his phone off him as well. If he won’t respond to reasonable requests, then treat him like a child.

 

[davidostler]

How about you just remove his Apple TV and don’t give it him back until he can do what he’s told.

I’d take his phone off him as well. If he won’t respond to reasonable requests, then treat him like a child.

We have a whole family that watches the AppleTV, it's not just his. I've already taken his phone away.